Page 17 - Delaware Lawyer - Issue 1 - 2024

SAQUAN STIMPSON
After writing letters to the Governor, and not getting anywhere, Ms. Bulah approached Louis Redding, Delaware's first African American attorney, to help with her daughter’s transportation. At- torney Redding was more frustrated with the unequal access to education than the bus situation and said he would only take on the case if the Bu- lahs sought Shirley’s admission to #29. Little did they know they would change a nation and make 107c a pivotal part of history.
Bulah v. Gebhart would be com- bined with four other cases to become
the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. The ruling in Bulah/Belton ended seg- regation in education in Delaware in 1952, two years before Brown, and paved the way for ending segregation in America. Delaware’s Supreme Court was the only State in Brown to affirm the lower court ruling ending segrega- tion prior to the U.S. Supreme Court 9–0 decision.
Early Stage: Activating the FOHCS and Developing a Strategic Plan
Starting in January 2012, a series
of meetings was held at the offices of the Delaware Community Founda- tion (DCF) by a new nonprofit entity, The Friends of Hockessin Colored School 107, Inc. (FOHCS). The meet- ings’ goal was to formulate a plan to acquire the mechanic’s lien from the contractor, Petrucon — which was try- ing to execute on collection of their construction debt from the Hockes- sin Community Center (HCC) — and avoid the sheriff’s sale and losing the five-acre residentially zoned property in Hockessin to development. Lead- ers of FOHCS included the late Hon. Leonard Williams, Delaware Supreme Court Chief Justice Collins J. Seitz, Jr., Dick Christopher, Allison Levine, Fred Sears, William Allen, Dr. Tony Allen, Drewry Fennell, Sylvia Banks, Sherese Brewington-Carr, Joshua W. Martin III and Cynthia Primo Martin. DCF was the fundraising partner.
The following quote from Judge Leonard Williams summarizes the tenor of the moment: “We could no more let HCS #107 be torn down or lost to com- mercial development, than we could al- low another promising student of color to drop out of high school based on some artificial barrier of geography, in- come or perceived cultural deficiency.”
These meetings were quickly fol- lowed by a flurry of efforts to raise at least $225,000. In a matter of days, over 75% of the funds to save the 107c from sheriff’s sale were obtained from DCF’s African American Empowerment Fund (AAEF), led by Chair William Allen, and from Dick Christopher (as an in- dividual). DCF raised the remaining funds from FOHCS and DCF mem- bers, friends and family. At this point, I was asked to join the FOHCS Board and soon thereafter served as Chair for the next 10 years.
With committed funds, FOHCS was able to negotiate a postponement of the sheriff’s sale by purchasing the mechan- ic’s lien from Petrucon. The lien purchase
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